


Plus One

by quickwest



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-29
Updated: 2016-06-29
Packaged: 2018-07-18 22:53:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,273
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7333948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quickwest/pseuds/quickwest
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Earth 2 Barry notices something is up with his wife and he's not sure why. Prompt: "May I have this dance, wife?"</p>
            </blockquote>





	Plus One

**Author's Note:**

> I used the song, "The First Time Ever I Saw You Face" by Roberta Flack

“Detective,” Barry smiled when he walked past Iris in the hallway of CCPD. 

She countered with a faint smile, but her mind had been so distracted that she didn’t stop to have their usual flirty banter.

“Iris,” Barry said, confused and came to a halt.

“Babe, sorry,” she said. Walking up to him, she plastered a wider smile on her face.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” she answered quickly. “Just that I was in the field with Lawton, and he emptied his entire clip on a car. Damaged evidence.”

Looking at her, he saw the worry riddled in his wife’s face and her eyes told a different story.

“Are you sure that’s it?” Barry asked, fumbling around with his wedding band. Lawton was a mess, sure, but she usually laughed at the man’s idiocy and horrible aim. Iris looked at him and smiled again.

“Yeah, it’s fine,” she insisted then leaned up and kissed him. “I have to go, but I’ll see you later.”

She was gone before he could say anything else. 

The next time he ran into her that day, he had just gotten off the elevator and was on his way to his lab. He managed to escape the lab for a quick lunch. He made sure to invite Iris but she waved him off and said she had too much work to do and would eat later.

“Iris, hey,” he greeted slowly, adjusting his glasses.

“Hey,” she replied. The awkwardness that followed didn’t feel like it should exist between husband and wife.

“I have to head out,” she said quickly, but Barry noticed something about her; she seemed clammy, a little pale, and sweaty.

“Iris, what is wrong?” Barry asked, inching towards her, but she faltered away.

“Nothing, I’m fine,” she repeated, then turned around searching for her partner that was scrambling around, patting away at his pockets. “Lawton, let’s move.”

He stood there staring at the elevator door in disbelief, and he spent the rest of the day trying to figure out what the hell just happened.

When Barry got home that night, he flipped through the mail separating the bills from the junk mail. He threw his keys into the empty key bowl and went straight over to the recliner and sat with his feet up.

Next to the recliner was an old record player that Iris got from Joe a few years back. A finger ran along the base as he admired the structure of the old device. Barry saw the record inside and smiled, deciding to play it. A record with only one song on it: “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face.” He remembered clearly the first time he heard it.

_Barry nervously adjusted his bow tie before mustering up the courage to go back out there. Admittedly, he wasn’t good at this. He could solve the most seemingly impossible cases without any problems, but approaching a woman was a harder task. And approaching detective Iris West was damn near impossible for him._

_It was new to see her like this in a curve hugging, long red dress with her hair down; it was usually pinned up in a bun or a ponytail and she was also usually in a pant suit or some sort of outfit with a blazer. Another thing that threw him off was seeing how different she was when she wasn’t working. Her usual tough demeanor was stowed away from CCPD’s annual banquet._

_He noticed how she was swaying so subtly and slowly to the music that filled the banquet hall, watching the other couples on the dance floor. Her foot would tap along to the slow rhythm of the jazz songs; the blare of the trumpets counteracting the dainty shrill of the piano, she didn’t miss a beat._

_“Detective West,” Barry cleared his throat._

_Iris looked up from her drink at Barry, and with one look at her, his breath caught in his throat. God, how was it possible for someone to be that beautiful. He felt lucky to see her smile because when he would see her in the hallways of the precinct, she was always so serious, thinking constantly, digging herself out of problems caused by Lawton, finding new ways to solve cases; it was almost like she only saved that smile for special occasions, and the fact that he was seeing it now, it felt like he just won every prize imaginable._

_“Allen, hi,” she greeted._

_Barry was grateful to see that her table was empty which helped him calm his nerves so that if he screwed this up, it wouldn’t be that embarrassing. Iris gestured to an empty seat inviting him to sit._

_“Sure,” he mumbled but tried to calm the way his heart was erratically beating. “Why are you sitting by yourself?”_

_“I don’t know, the other detectives went to the bar, some are getting food, others are socializing,” she shrugged. “I’ll be honest though, this sort of event isn’t my thing.”_

_“It’s not mine either,” he nodded. “But I had to go to make it seem appealing to the rest of the forensics department.”_

_They both glanced over to the table where other CCPD colleagues sat picking at their food and chatting all the while looking uncomfortable. Barry noticed that the music began to slow and the atmosphere became tranquil, a few more people flocked to the dance floor._

_“I dug this dress out of my closet for too,” Iris muttered, shifting around in her seat._

_“Well, it looks amazing on you,” he blurted out._

_“Thank you,” she smiled, shyly, moving the hair that fell into her face out of the way._

_Smooth, Barry, smooth, he thought to himself. He ran his hands along the fabric on his thighs to dry up the sweat that appeared._

_“Allen,” she said suddenly and stood up._

_“Barry, call me Barry,” he stammered._

_“Okay, Barry,” she said and held a hand out, “may I have this dance?”_

_He wasn’t sure what fueled her change of tune so quickly, but he wasn’t to question it or deny her a dance, so he nodded and followed her to the middle of the room._

_Nothing could calm his nerves. When she had one hand in his and the other resting on his shoulder, he placed his hands on her lower back, gently. It was like the only thing that existed in that moment was them; the chatter of the other dancing couples ceased, their excitement silenced. The only thing that mattered was the way his heart jumped out of his chest while she was so delicately and perfectly tucked into him and sighed complacently._

_The noise that existed between them was the slow rhythm of the song and her soft hums that followed._

__‘The first time ever I saw your face, I thought the sun rose in your eyes. And the moon and the stars were gifts you gave._ And the moon and the stars were the gifts you gave. To the dark and the endless skies, my love. To the dark and the endless skies,’ crooned the jazz band’s singer._

_“You’re a fan of this song too,” he murmured, forcing there to be more than the silence; he was getting too paranoid thinking that there had to be chatter for this to mean something._

_“What?” she asked, looking at him. And that was when everything froze. Barry didn’t know how to describe that feeling his felt when her eyes stared deeply into his. The dark browns gazed into him, piercing him deep down. He wasn’t sure if he was even breathing anymore._

_“Um, I noticed,” he began to say, snapping out of this trance that existed, “I noticed how you were dancing along to the other songs while you were sitting. You’re a fan of the oldies.”_

_“Oh,” her eyebrows crinkled then Iris nodded, “yeah, it’s my favorite. My dad is a lounge singer and this is the only type of music he listens to and sings. I grew up to this.”_

_“‘The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,’“ she sighed happily and Barry held onto her waist tighter as they continued to exist as one, forming a perfect pair, a yin and yang, a paradox of her tough exterior and his gentleness, they became Barry and Iris._

The front door was opening now. Barry hadn’t even heard the keys jingle, but immediately shut away his thoughts.

“Iris,” he said and nervously stood up from the recliner.

“Hey babe,” she sighed and walked toward the couches. “What are you doing?”

“Just listening to music,” he shrugged.

Barry was being so careful around her. He wasn’t sure what exactly set her off at work, but whatever it was, he didn’t want to further upset her. She smiled when she heard the song. Over the past few years, it became their song. The first time they danced together, then at their wedding, and random nights like this one where Barry would play it just to make her smile.

“What do you say, wife of mine,” he started, holding a hand out, “may I have this dance?”

Iris bit down on her a lip, a telltale sign that she was nervous, but she swallowed hard and stood up. They didn’t say anything as they moved so slowly to the tempo. Her body relaxed into his as the tension further rolled off his body. It was okay, they would be okay. He cradled the lyrics just as delicately as he held her body.

_I felt your heart so close to mine. And I knew our joy would fill the earth. And last ‘til the end of time, my love._

Her soft hums accompanied them until the the final verse rang through the living room, filling the silence. He noticed that her small body shook a little.

“Iris,” he said, pulling back just enough to see her face.

Once he saw the tears that dotted the corners of her eyes, concern consumed every inch of his body.

“Iris, what’s wrong?” Barry asked. His hands held onto her arms waiting for her to respond to something.

“Babe, I need to tell you something,” she murmured with a sniff.

“What? What is it?” The wait to hear her response almost killed him. His stomach twisted around in knots and he knew that if he let go of her, his hands would be trembling. Whatever she had to say had to have been awful if she was this–

“I, um. I’m pregnant,” she finally forced out, interrupting his thoughts.

“You’re, what? You’re pregnant?” he asked excitedly to which he got a solemn nod from her.

“You’re not excited about this,” Barry stated, confused and furrowed his eyebrows.

“I don’t know,” she started to say. “I found out a couple days ago and at first I was so happy and excited to tell you and I really was going to, but then I just, I started to think about it more and more. And I can’t be a mom. I don’t know how.

“I never had a mom and the woman who was supposed to be mine didn’t want kids, she didn’t want _me,_ ” the tears came down harder and harder. “I mean what if I am in over our heads with this? What if I can’t be enough for our own child? And this wasn’t a part of our plan to have kids so soon and–”

“Iris, Iris,” Barry stopped her from going further then looked at her with a sad smile. His index finger slid under her chin, nudging her to look up at him.

“You’re going to be a great mom,” he stated firmly, “and I know that you don’t think so because of Francine, but you’re not her. You, my wife, _my_  Iris, you are the greatest woman I have ever known, you would never abandon your child. And our kids are going to be so lucky to have you as their mom.”

“You think so?” she asked, her bottom lip trembling, and her cries turned softer, the tears streaming slowly.

“I know it,” he nodded and rested a hand on her stomach, and her hand immediately covered his; their fingers interlocking, fixed together like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.

Iris was quiet for a second, the only noises were the song on the record player and her sniffles. Barry’s heart damn near exploded with the pent up anxiety from waiting for her response and from the complete joy he felt knowing that soon enough, he would be a father.

She finally looked back at him, and he saw that twinkle in her eyes; the same one that he could have sworn had the power to shatter his soul all the while repairing it so meticulously.

“We’re having a baby,” she smiled. This time the tears that streamed down her face seemed so elated that he couldn’t help it when his fell down his face.

“We’re having a baby,” he repeated.

Iris practically jumped into his arms, and he pressed his lips into the top of her head. And Barry Allen knew that they would make it work because in his eyes, his wife had the power to make the sun rise with kisses that made the earth tremble, just like their song said.

 _And I knew our joy would fill the earth. And last ‘til the end of time, my love. And it would last ‘til the end of time, my love,_  their song sang as they stood there holding each other, content with their forever, a soft serenity settled and they became Barry and Iris plus one.


End file.
